Buckingham Palace Opens Royal Jewellery Exhibition With 300 Pieces, Two Thirds Unseen

In 1649, Charles I is said to have worn a pair of cufflinks to the scaffold. They have never been on public display. In June 2027 they go on show at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, as part of the royal jewellery exhibition Royal Jewellery: From Coronations to Keepsakes.

It opens on June 25, 2027 and runs until March 19, 2028. More than 300 pieces are on show, and around two thirds have never been seen in public. The Crown Jewels are not part of it. They stay at the Tower of London. What Royal Collection Trust has brought together instead is the jewellery kept close: a brooch given on the eve of a wedding, a bracelet of pebbles gathered on a honeymoon, a thistle that holds a child’s milk tooth.

The exhibition is the first to cover 500 years of British royal jewellery. It draws on the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives, so jewels hang alongside paintings, designs and documents. The pieces belonged to monarchs from Henry VIII and Charles II to Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. The makers include early royal goldsmiths, Garrard, Cartier, Boucheron and Fabergé. Caroline de Guitaut and Kathryn Jones are the co-curators.

Diamonds Made For A Coronation

The Diamond Diadem was made in 1820 by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell for the coronation of George IV. It carries 1,333 diamonds. Elizabeth II wore it to the State Opening of Parliament on November 4, 1952 and on the journey to her own coronation in June 1953. Its image then travelled on coins, banknotes and stamps.

Queen Victoria’s Small Diamond Crown is a smaller object with a stricter brief. R.S. Garrard and Co made it in 1870, set with 1,187 diamonds, and designed it to sit over her widow’s cap. She first wore it on 9 February 1871. It was placed on her coffin in 1901.

A Marriage In Brooches And Bracelets

Victoria and Albert supply the most personal pieces. Albert gave Victoria a sapphire brooch bordered with diamonds on the evening of 9 February 1840, the night before their wedding. A pebble bracelet from 1841 is set with pebbles collected on their first journey alone together as a married couple. A thistle brooch from 1847 holds Princess Victoria’s milk tooth. A mourning ring from 1861 was made after Albert’s death and carries his photograph and the couple’s intertwined ciphers.

The collection also holds what is described as Victoria’s first ring, dated to the early 1820s. Every one of these objects was made to be worn close, and the exhibition places them in sequence from wedding eve to widowhood.

The Queens Who Kept Their Own

The central section follows every queen and consort from Queen Charlotte to Elizabeth II. Charlotte’s 18th century garnet suite is shown for the first time, newly connected to the Queen through recent research. Queen Alexandra’s diamond and black pearl serpent bracelet from the 1870s is also a first-time exhibit. Queen Mary acquired a Fabergé diamond and aquamarine pendant dated 1909, and it later passed to Elizabeth II.

A Greville emerald and diamond necklace completes the group. Dame Margaret Greville died on September 15, 1942, and left her jewels to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Elizabeth II wore this necklace in 2019. Queen Camilla wore it in 2025.

Planning A Visit? Here's How To Do So

Tickets are booked through rct.uk. Newsletter subscribers can buy from 28 October and the general public from November 3. Standard tickets are listed at GBP 24 (approx. Rs 3,100). A companion book, described as the first comprehensive study of the British royal jewellery collection, is due in June 2027.